To say that the package-printing and converting industries are changing or facing a variety of challenges is both an understatement and “old hat.” Today, your business must be ahead of the curve in technology, market forecasts and people skills. One source of that vital information is next month's Graph Expo® 2007 commercial-printing trade show and conference, organized by the Graphic Arts Show Co. (Reston, VA).

Although the inaugural PackPrint show, which was to run alongside Graph Expo at Chicago's McCormick Place, has been postponed, there's still plenty to interest and benefit converters at this year's largest printing-industry event. Set for Sept. 9-12, the show will bring together about 600 exhibitors filling 450,000 net sq ft of display space, as well as offer nearly 70 seminars in a four-day conference program.

The show's product range includes graphic design and composition, traditional and electronic prepress, printing presses and pressroom equipment, supplies and management systems and services. Converting-specific exhibits will feature bag- and pouchmaking machinery, coaters, corrugators, dies, laminators, slitter/rewinders, diecutters, stampers, embossers, folder/gluers, and other finishing systems.

Among the many converting-machinery makers exhibiting are Autobond (lamination systems); Brandtjen & Kluge (Small Box folder/gluer, Omnifold); Heidelberg (Varimatrix 105 diecutter); LasX Industries (LaserSharp high-speed laser die-cutting); MacDermid Printing Solutions (CartonPlus folding-carton printing plates); and Stratis Plastic Pallets (one-piece roll cradles). For a look at some of the sheetfed-offset and digital printing presses on the market, see our Focus section (page 45-49). Also, Graph Expo is always a good opportunity to check out the latest inks from suppliers such as Sun Chemical, INX International Ink Co. and Flint Group.Executive Outlook

Leading off Graph Expo's string of programs is the Executive Outlook pre-show conference, covering every economics, marketing, technology and people. Running from 8:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on Sept. 8, the event begins with Andrew D. Paparozzi, vice president and chief economist with the Printing Economic Research Ctr. at the National Association for Printing Leadership, offering an economic outlook and how it will impact print. Among the seminar's other topics are MIS-The Backbone of a Profitable Printing Business; Smart Factory Overview; and Print Process and Production Vignettes. The day's luncheon will feature “A View of Diversification from the Trenches,” with a panel of three printers discussing what they were, what they are now, and how they got there.

A series of concurrent sessions will fill the afternoon, addressing the needs of experienced as well as novice digital printers; offset printers; and new multi-media providers. A final General Session, “The RFID Opportunity-Are You Missing It?” wraps up Executive Outlook before the presentation of the 2007 Must See 'Ems®, products selected by a jury of industry experts as the most compelling at the show.

The dozens of Graph Expo conference seminars, running concurrently over the course of the show, fall into two types. Regular Series items are intensive programs geared toward issues facing printers, converters or anyone working in print and who needs to know how to successfully achieve, overcome, predict or resolve these issues. Hands-On Computer Labs allow attendees to use Mac workstations to learn by doing. Instructors will teach how to use various software and reveal tips, tricks and the “inside scoop” on how to work more effectively.

Overall, conference topics will run the gamut from business, color, creative, digital and Internet to mailing/fulfillment, management, print buying and wide-format. Converters will find particularly helpful the seminars on prepress, presses, production and workflow.

Three of the nearly 70 different Graph Expo conference seminars are specifically related to package printing and converting.

Unwrap New Profits-Diversifying into Packaging (Sept. 9, 2:15-4:00 p.m.): Presented by Malcolm Keif of California Polytechnic Institute, this session warns printers not to simply jump into a different competitive market, such as packaging, where established players already have process knowledge and customer relationships. With a nod toward a realistic perspective of opportunities in the packaging business, the program covers the six primary packaging markets, where the high margins are, what challenges lie ahead, how packaging and print buyers differ, what specialized equipment is needed, what technical and legal issues to be familiar with, and how to develop partnerships to sell in packaging markets with existing presses.

The Future of the Printed Product (free) (Sept. 9, 5:00-6:00 p.m.): What will the printing industry look like, in terms of firms and equipment, over the next decade? Frank Romano, professor emeritus of Rochester Institute of Technology, will give session attendees the answers for dozens of printed products—from forms to magazines, boxes to bags, flyers to greeting cards. Overall, the program will cover how print buying will change, where the new opportunities will be, electronic and offshore competition, how 13 major products will fare in 2017, and why print will prevail.

Color Management for Packaging (Sept. 11, 10:15 a.m.-Noon): Joe Suffoletto of the PIA/GATF will present how the packaging industry uses a much wider and more diverse range of inks, substrates and production methods than commercial printers do. Consequently, this diversity creates a significantly different and more difficult task in color management. Attendees will learn the fundamentals of color management, the press hierarchy of diagnostics and process, how to measure color in packaging and optimize packaging-color proofing, dealing with spot and special colors, what are the print specifications for packaging and the special considerations in color-management workflow; and how to create and edit ICC profiles.

Want some help planning your visit? Take advantage of the free Attendee Assistant found at http://mygraphexpo.com/attendee/aa.cfm. This Web-based tool helps you compare products from different suppliers and identify exhibitors, create and print a list of companies/products to see, view and add seminars to your planner, request appointments with exhibitors, and reserve special offers and discounts.